


into the brighter night

by asterisms



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-02-16 23:05:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13064055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asterisms/pseuds/asterisms
Summary: The cupboard door is open.





	1. Chapter 1

The cupboard door is open.

  
  


He knows this before he even opens his eyes. The space where the door is supposed to be is like an open maw, waiting. Just waiting. He feels

Unsafe

Here with the door open, but when he reaches out he feels- what does he feel?

He feels cold.

  
  


The hallway outside the cupboard is dark. He presses his palm against the floor and digs his nails into the wood, burrowing and anchoring until he feels safe again.

The cupboard is too big around him. The door that is not a door is too close. When he reaches up, there are no cobwebs to catch his fingers and the stairs are wider than they used to be.

This is not his cupboard, and outside is not his hallway, and inside-

_ Oh my, _ the voice is soft and Harry breathes it in and it tastes like smoke and coats his throat like ash and he thinks-  _ This is just too easy. _

 

“Who are you?”

The darkness doesn’t answer, but he feels it when it leaves, like pressure leaking away, unnoticable until it’s gone

  
  


And 

It’s gone?

  
  
  


When he opens his eyes, he is in his cupboard again, and the door is closed.

 

With trembling hands, he reaches out to touch it. The wood is solid, but when he scratches, it breaks away like grains of sand beneath his nails, the sound of it like whispers against the floorboards where it falls.

 

He picks his nails clean and licks the grit away, just to make sure, and he tastes-

 

He closes his eyes.

He doesn’t dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've seen some crossovers for these fandoms before and decided I'd like to make one for myself. I'm actually not sure where it's going yet, so I guess this means we get to figure it out together!
> 
> I almost didn't tag it since it feels spoilery, but at least this way y'all know what you're in for.


	2. Chapter 2

The cupboard door is open again.

This cupboard is not his cupboard. Again.

 

“Who are you?”

 

He keeps his eyes closed this time, and the door that is not a door opens wider. He thinks it might be smiling. If he opened his eyes, he might see-

It’s waiting, again. Just waiting.

 

 _Who are you?_ It asks.

Harry holds his breath.

 

His eyes are closed, he knows this, but he sees it anyway. A shadow within a shadow, but not a shadow.

 

If he opens his eyes, he will-

“If I tell you my name, will you leave?”  


 

He keeps his voice quiet. He is not in his cupboard, so there are no Aunts or Uncles or Cousins to fear, but he is in a cupboard and there is no door and there is a hallway.

Who knows what might be out there, sitting in the dark? Who knows what might be listening?

The darkness moves again.

This time, he knows it is smiling.  
  


 

When he opens his eyes (though he promised himself he wouldn’t), the walls are in the right places, and the door is back again.

 

He curls his hands to his chest. He holds them still. 


	3. Chapter 3

In the daylight, the nights don’t seem so frightening.

In the daylight, it’s not the nights that scare him.

 

“Don’t be a baby, Dud,” Piers is saying, “Monsters aren’t real, my mum says so.”

Harry buries his feet in the sand beneath the slide and listens.

“Yeah? Well, your mum’s stupid.”

“You’re stupid!”

The sound of a fist hitting flesh.

A pause.

A breath.

Piers is whispering now. He asks, “What’d you see?”

Harry wiggles his toes, feels the wet sand catch against his skin, and wonders.

 

In the shade beneath the slide, the daylight doesn’t feel so real anymore.

In the shade beneath the slide, he could be dreaming.

But he’s not dreaming.

 

   
  
Uncle Vernon is yelling again. He’s loud when he yells, and Harry wonders if the house shakes with it. Maybe, if he’s loud enough, the foundations will crack and the house will fall. Maybe, if he’s loud enough, it will bury him.

By the time he returns to his cupboard, he’s earned a new bruise. When he touches it, it hurts, and the blood that pounds beneath his skin is loud enough to drown out the world.

He bites back a smile, and it feels like sand between his teeth.

 

   
  
In the night, the shadow comes back. He feels it like a weight on his chest. Like a fist around his throat, and just as real.

He keeps his eyes open, but in the dark, he sees little. He reaches forward, just to make sure, and feels-

_What is this?_

The voice speaks from behind him, but the cupboard is small, and he is growing. There is no space for a body. If he looks, what will he see?

_Are you afraid?_

Yes, and yet-

In the dark, he could be dreaming.

“Monsters aren’t real,” he says. He doesn’t quite mean it.

 _I am_ , the voice tells him.

“Are you a monster?”

_Look and see._

 

He takes a breath. He takes another.

The dark at his back waits and breathes with him.

He feels it. He feels-

  
  
“I don’t want to look.”

 

The shadow that is not a shadow is bigger, now. He can't see it, but he _knows _. It arcs over him like a wave about to break.__

____

____

He holds his breath.

 

His eyes are open.

 

_You will._


End file.
